Lashawn Thompson, a 35-year-old homeless man, was taken into custody last June by the sheriff of Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, after spitting on an officer. On 13 September, he was found dead, emaciated, extremely dirty and his body infested with insects in a cell in the psychiatric wing of the local prison.
An official autopsy had ruled that the causes of death were "undetermined" against a background of "schizophrenic and bipolar disorders"